Contemporary Young Adult Author

Portaits of Southeast Asia–The Ladyboys of Thailand

So in case you haven’t seen Hangover 2, one of the unique things about Thailand (besides the beautiful beaches and spectacular jungles and thousands of amazing temples) are the ladyboys. Ladyboys are men who dress as women and often undergo plastic surgery to become more womanly, including breast implants, shrinking Adam’s Apples, and perhaps even vaginal reconstruction (though some of the limited googling I did suggested this was rare). Anyway, they’re apparently like a third gender category in Thailand and make pretty good money. It sounds like it’s something people are more comfortable with in Thailand. I’ve posted a few pictures from our ladyboy cabaret experiences, which was fascinating and a lot of fun. The one we went to was by no means extravagant. Some of them were obviously men, but others it was pretty hard to tell. By the way there was NO nudity at this show.

In the picture above, one of the ladyboys was transforming back into a man.